Energy Equals Mass
by Rapidfyrez
Summary: Optimus believed that once he'd unleashed the Matrix that Unicron was no more. He was wrong. The Earths destruction may have been halted, but Unicron was far from gone. Weakened and barely aware, the entity of chaos used his failing powers to summon a sin
1. Prologue

Prologue

It wasn't fair. He'd had his chance, he'd come so _close! _But no, victory had been stolen from him. And with it, any chance of freedom he might have had. It wasn't fair, wasn't right. But then, most of what happened to him wasn't fair. He'd learned that when humans were involved, life very rarely was 'fair'.

And yet, he was supposed to be dead, wasn't he? He'd felt the impact in the side of his skull, felt his body hit the ground. Felt himself…break… So why was he still aware? He shouldn't be able to feel his face, let alone beat himself up for making that same mistake.

He opened his eyes and saw whiteness, again. Whiteness surrounding him, covering him, maybe even infusing his battered broken body. The figure, who looked like a man, looked from side to side trying to figure out…

"How am I alive?" he asked, still confused.

His voice echoed through the empty white void. There was no response, as he'd expected. Maybe this was what humans called purgatory. Maybe they were right about the afterlife. But… he wasn't human. Oh he looked human, but that was where the similarities ended.

And that was a good thing in his opinion. Humans were evil disgusting creatures, and he hated them all. So not being human was a plus in his book. Receiving their equivalent of the afterlife? Not so much.

Looked at his damaged legs, the figure took in a breath he didn't need and tried moving. To his surprise, he found that he did move. Surprisingly well in fact.

"I ran out of energy though…" he murmured, looking at the cracked surface of his body, "Didn't I?"

Finally, the poor being received an answer in the form of a rather overpowering voice that nearly drove him to his knees. A surprising feat all things considered.

**"You did." **the voice boomed. It felt old and powerful, belonging to some sort of deity no doubt.

The figure raised a brow, "And who might you be?" he asked.

In response, purple mist began pooling on the ground and around his ankles, all coalescing towards the center of the area. Or what he assumed might have been the center. Could have been the edge. Or a third of the way up. Or a fourth. Point was something was forming in front of him.

And eventually, a semi-transparent figure took shape from the mist. The edges of his form were hard to make out, and his eyes glowed a sickening purple. His body was covered in spikes and his physique was… well far from human. But powerful looking all the same, towering over the confused figure.

The figure just crossed his arm, as he had lost the other, and gave a lazy smile, "And who do I have the pleasure of speaking too?"

**"I, am Unicron. The being which resides at the center of the planet you call Earth." **the violet mist shaped figure explained.

"What a peculiar name," the figure replied, scratching his scarred face with his mis-colored hand, "And to what do I owe this honor, Mr. Unicron."

Unicron narrowed his violet eyes at the figures casual tone, but decided to ignore it for now, **"I have watched you, for quite some time creature. Your skills and abilities impressed me."**

The figure let out a light chuckle, "I often do,"

**"And I believe we may be able to help each other." **Unicron continued.

That got the figures attention, and he refocused on Unicron, "Oh? How so?"

**"You and I both share a common interest. We hate humans. Disgusting parasites." **

The figure grinned at that, "Glad to see someone shares the same sentiment. But is there a point behind all this?"

Unicron scowled, **"Watch your tongue. I could let your energy loose and destroy your essence for all eternity. It is within my power."**

This only got a shrug out of the figure, "If you insist. So, besides hating humans, why else have you kept me alive?" he knew almost no one that wanted to keep him alive, except maybe…

He shook his head of the memory. It was time from a past life, something to be forgotten. Or at least converted to a useful energy instead of a wasteful memory.

**"I wish to offer you a second chance," **Unicron explained, **"A second chance at your freedom."**

Now that got really got the beings attention, "Okay, now you have me interested. And what would I have to do in exchange for this freedom?"

**"There is a human, a boy who I want killed," **Unicron explained.

The figure laughed upon hearing that, "That's it? A single human boy? You need me to take care of a brat?"

**"This 'brat' is more cunning than your average human."** Unicron explained,** "It is because of him that my nemesis' disciple still functions. And while I have been weakened because of that disciple, I will not have this human go unpunished." **

The figure tapped his foot and cocked his head to the side, "And why have me kill the human, not this 'disciple' you speak of?"

**"You would not be capable of facing him. In my current state, an attempt to fight him would return you to your original state."**

This made the figure frown and lower his arm with a slight crack, "And say I do kill this human, this boy? What then?"

**"Then I grant you your freedom. The surface of this world is yours to enjoy as you see fit." **Unicron's misty form shimmered for a moment, and then a large clawed hand emerged from the mist.

**"All you need do is accept and I will restore your form and your companion. Your energy will recharge whenever you are not in combat, and your body will be far easier to repair. But be warned. If you run out of energy, it will not come back. You will be reverted to the statue you once were, aware but unmoving." **

The claw remained floating in the air while the person stared at it, weighing his options. A second chance at freedom. Recharging energy, a repairable body. It all sounded too good to be true.

"And how do I know you won't backstab me?" he asked.

**"Because I care not for what happens on the surface of Earth. I simply want this human dead." **Unicron explained.

His concern answered, the figure took Unicron's hand, "I accept your deal Unicron, and all that comes with it. But tell me, what does this child look like?"

**"I do not know his appearance," **Unicron admitted, **"But I know his name. His name is Jackson Darby. And he is your target."**

The being released Unicron's hand and stepped back, "Okay then. I take it you won't be cruel enough to transport me to a random location?"

**"You will arrive at the closest location to the child. This is the most I can provide in my current state." **Unicron replied. His misty form evaporated into the whiteness, which quickly began to darken.

The figure looked up and smiled as it did, "One last chance. No more mistakes…" and then the darkness engulfed him…

* * *

On the outskirts of Jasper Nevada, there was nothing but dirt and sand. Well, that's not true. There were also motorbike riders, three in fact, riding outside of town. Who were these three?

Three high school students, two girls and a guy, out for a ride before school started back up again. They were out enjoying themselves for once, and had ridden all day. Now they were resting near the outskirts of town, taking drinks of water and resting against or on their dirt bikes.

One of them, a dark skinned girl named Lara, wiped a bit of perspiration from her forehead, "You know, this wasn't the best way to spend our weekend before school started back up Billy," she reminded the brown haired tan skinned junior.

The teen just shrugged, "We deserved a break, schools been crazy lately. Besides, the incident with Macy wasn't that bad." he jerked a thumb at the brown haired pale skinned girl.

"Not my fault, you guys know I don't ride as often as you do." she pouted.

The other two laughed, "And that's why _you _were the center of the incident, not Maria and I."

Macy pouted again, "Screw you too Billy." she mumbled.

"Yes ma'am." he replied with a laugh. The girls both slapped their foreheads. Billy was notorious for his awful attempts at humor.

"Why do we hang out with you again?" Maria demanded.

Billy laughed again, "Because I'm awesome."

Macy tapped her chin, "No, I'd say… because your so feminine you make us look butch."

"Yeah- Hey!" he protested, and the three descended into a friendly argument. And on any other day of any other week, that would have been fine. But at that exact moment on that exact day… They should have been watching their surroundings.

For a fair distance off, something began to rise from the ground. At first, it was nothing but a large pile of sand, slowly growing higher and higher and higher. But as time passed, the pile started to spread itself out. One side went north, while the other went east. Then, it thickened out east and west.

From there, the sand began to tighten together. The loose dirt began combining and packing itself together into a solid form. The form slowly rose on either side, curving up on itself like the ribs of a human. Small flecks of sand broke off, but quickly reattached themselves to the shape as it formed.

Now the outline of the shape was obvious. It had formed a basic human shaped body. There were simply few features on the body at the moment. Something that someone should have told the body, as it broke free of the hard packed earth.

Shakily, it stood up as its legs were weak and hollow. But slowly, the sand solidified into a hard stone and then began to take shape into an odd man shaped figure. Clothes began to form around him, and his facial features slowly began to take form. Soon, color filled in his body and the figure stood. Reborn from the earth and back in his old form, good as new.

To say he looked odd was… an understatement. He wore big brown boots with mismatched socks and a pair of short brown baggy pants that showed them off slightly. A grey sash was tied around his waist holding them up, and he wore what could only be described as a mid seventeenth century white shirt with a large collar and baggy arms. He also wore a yellow striped bandana over blonde hair. Basically, he was dressed like a pirate.

His skin was pale, but not incredibly so, and his blonde hair was quite messy. But what had to be most noticeable was the scar on his face. His left eye was faded and gray, like an old patch of concrete, and even a part of his hair was grayed. Three long cuts came across from this gray patch, making it looked like he'd been attacked by an animal of some sort. Though the truth was far stranger in all honesty.

The figure looked himself over, patted down his shirt and let out a cheery laugh, "I must admit, he did a good job bringing me back," he looked at his right arm. It certainly looked like a humans arm, the pale grey mark that was once there had vanished.

A smile crossed his face, "How pleasant. I get a second chance, and my body gets a much needed restoration!"

His smile quickly turned into a frown and he put his hands on his hips, "Seems I've lost my coat though… and where is-"

He was interrupted when a swarm of black particles appeared at his feet, swirling together. They writhed and squirmed in place for a few moments, before taking the appearance of a shadowy crow with red eyes. Its feathers were obscured by shadow and made it appear more as a blot of black than an actual crow.

The figure didn't care, instead he smiled and held out his arm, letting the crow fly up and land on his elbow, "Why Arma! How good to see you again!" he said happily, scratching the crow under the chin.

It's red eye blinked at him and he smiled, "Why, I missed you too!" the bird cocked its head to the side, "Oh yes Arma, I know our new 'employer' might be a bit dangerous. But could we really pass up this chance?"

The bird ruffled its feathers before flying up to atop the pirates head where it perched there. His smile never faded, "That's what I thought. It'll be worth it in the end, I promise!"

He received no physical response, so he just shrugged instead, "You do have a point though, we should head on into town, shouldn't we?"

It was at this moment the pirate-esque figure noticed the teenagers talking a ways off. Somehow, they still hadn't noticed him. Had they seen him appear, they may have run off screaming like maniacs, so that might have been for the best. But now it was time for him to introduce himself. Maybe he'd get lucky and meet this 'Jack' person sooner rather than later.

So the figure casually walked up to the three teens with his arms crossed behind his back and a friendly smile on his face. It didn't take long for the three of them to notice him and for their conversation to slowly come to an end.

"Why hello!" he greeted cheerily, giving a friendly wave.

Billy looked at Macy, who then looked at Maria. The three shrugged at once, not really sure what to make of this guy.

"Hi," Billy decided to answer, "Can we…help you with something?"

"Actually, yes," the figure replied, "You see, a friend of mine has asked me to come to this fine town to look for an old friend of his. It's a bit confusing, but I was wondering if any of you might be him?"

"I…don't think so Mr…?" Billy started, unnerved by this fellow. He seemed a bit too cheery.

"Oh deary me, where are my manners," the figure bowed, "You may call me Karl. I apologize for the theatrics, but you see, I'm a performer. And so is my friend. That's why I have this bird on my head," he motioned to Arma and she fluttered down to his index finger.

"She's quite tame, if a bit mischievous," he explained. and scratched her under the chin, "But she makes a good companion on long journeys."

Knowing he was a performer put Billy a little at ease. A circus or two had come by Jasper and he remembered how…odd they could be. He could easily buy Karl being a performer of some sorts. Which was his second mistake. His first was letting Karl get near him. What was the third?

"So who're you looking for exactly?" Maria asked.

"Hmm?" Karl looked at her with a smile and slight incline of his head, "Oh right. I believe his name was…Jack, Jack Darby."

The three teens muttered amongst themselves upon hearing this, before Macy turned to him, "Sorry…Karl. But I don't think we know a Jack Darby. You'd want to check out Jasper High, we're from a private school a few miles west."

Arma fluttered up to Karl's right hand and perched on his fingers, "Why thank you so very much for the information young lady. I'll be sure to check out the high school right away."

He started to walk past them, before stopping as if he'd remembered something. Karl looked back at the group, "Say, just to double check… You're all human, right?"

This made the three blink repeatedly. Alarm bells started ringing in Maria's head, and Billy took a step away from Karl. Macy however…

"Well yeah, what else would we be?" she said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Karl's smile turned devilish and his eyebrows narrowed, "That's all I needed to hear."

There was a sound of something slashing through the air, followed by the splitting of flesh and spilling of liquid on the floor. Maria screamed while Billy cursed and jumped away. Macy's headless corpse fell to the floor while Karl stood there, his arm outstretched. Where Arma had been was now a pitch black cutlass, with a blood red eye on the handle.

"Oh Arma," Karl held up the cutlass and began scolding it as the two teens stood paralyzed with shock and fear, "You naughty, naughty bird. I thought you were past this stage?"

"W-what the hell!?" Billy screamed, unfortunately getting Karl's attention.

"Well, it has been a while since I've stretched my legs," he said, spinning the cutlass on his finger, "Figured now was good a time as any to catch up on lost time."

Maria got on her bike and revved it to life, "Stay away from me you freak!" she screeched. There was a screech of tires on dirt and she went speeding off away from the paralyzed Billy and Karl.

The latter sighed and shook his head, "I hate it when they run," he suppressed the memory of that dirty boy and looked at Billy, "Something the matter little boy?" he asked, still keeping that cheery tone.

"Wh-what are you!?" Billy started backing away.

Karl chuckled and crossed his arms behind his back, "What a cliched question. All you need to know boy, is that I am here on business, and I would prefer if you didn't get in my way."

"Wh-" Billy's life ended then and there, as Karl stabbed him through the chest. The teen gaped as hot blood poured from his chest, and then Karl pulled the blade from his chest and let him collapse to the floor.

With two dead, Karl looked after the quickly vanishing Maria. Who, in her panic, was heading_ away _from town. Karl chuckled at her moment of idiocy, and shot after her. He quickly reached an inhuman speed, his feet thudding hard against the ground, and was soon keeping pace with her.

"So, where exactly did you plan on running off to?" he deadpanned.

Maria screamed and lost control. Her bike swerved and went out from under her. She hit the ground with a bone cracking thud, and the two tumbled end over end before coming to a wrecked stop a fair distance away. Her neck twisted at an unnatural angle.

Karl came a stop and sighed, "Why does everyone I meet die in such tragic ways?"

Arma landed on his head and looked down at him, "I was just being friendly," he insisted.

The bird blinked and Karl sighed, "Okay, okay. Back to business. I know Arma."

Karl turned back towards the town and began walking towards the small city, "Not like Jack will be hard to find, hmm? Should be a few days at most, and this time I have no time limit."

He crossed his arms behind his head as he walked towards the town and began whistling a tune.

A Sonata number in G minor. To anyone else it was meaningless, but for him… Well, it gave him a purpose. A purpose to find this boy and end his life.

Karl felt his feet brush against something and paused, looking down. A big smile crossed his face, "Oh wow! Our new employer is quite the nice guy Arma! He even gave me back my coat, see!?"

The pirate looking madman held up a long orange sleeveless coat that he quickly slipped on. Then he saw what had been beneath it and felt his smile soften. He reached down and carefully wrapped his finger around the wooden neck.

Karl handled the violin delicately in his hands and slowly spun it in his hands. It was beautifully crafted, excellent craftsmanship… And engraved in the back, in glowing purple, were the words, 'Consider this, an advanced payment. Kill the boy, and you can keep it.'

After reading it, Karl put the violin to his collar and held out his hand. Arma reformed into a bow before landing in his outstretched hand. Karl then began playing a soft tune as he walked towards Jasper.

Oh sure, he wanted his freedom, but he could also enjoy his job a little, couldn't he? After all, there was always time for a little violin in his book.

"Just think Arma," He muttered to the shape-shifting bird, "In a few days, we'll be free for the rest of our lives. And all it costs is one life. I sure do hope we kill him soon."

He looked up at the night sky and played into the night…

**A/N: So…this is PURELY guilty pleasure for me. Anyone who doesn't know who Karl is, search for Law of Talos on DeviantArt. This guy has been one of my favorite anti-heroes for almost half a decade now. So this was inevitable. I promise that this is my last new story for a while, (This one was in development for a year and a half) but I want to know. Do you want me to keep writing it? Let me know in the reviews, and if you have questions about Karl, PM me. Otherwise, review with critique and PM me with ideas. Bye!**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Arrival

"What a quaint little town we've arrived in, wouldn't you agree Arma?" Karl asked as he strolled through the darkened streets of Jasper. The small black crow rested on his shoulder, its beady red eyes scanning the streets as her companion walked.

In response to his question, the bird looked at him and blinked once. Karl chuckled lightly, "True, true. It's certainly no Taitile, that's for sure. But if you ask me, we've had enough of those big cities for quite some time. Wouldn't you agree?"

Arma ruffled her feathers and Karl scratched her under the beak, "That's what I thought." he said, and then stopped at an intersection with a frown. The town felt quite abandoned, bringing back almost a sense of nostalgia for the pirate like figure. Almost. There were some memories best left forgotten.

However, this town seemed far cleaner and more modern than the last city he'd been too. At least, it didn't seem like it was falling apart at the seams, or ready to come to life at any given moment. But given that Karl himself was a living statue, anything was possible to him.

"Now then…" he muttered, putting his hands on his hips, "Which way to go? Our little human 'friends' didn't exactly give us good directions."

Truthfully, Karl had no idea what a school actually looked like, or where to find one. He'd read about and heard about them, but he'd never actually seen one. So now that he really thought about it, he really had no idea which way to head.

So he looked to Arma, "Care to scout out the area Arma? See what you can find?" the bird raised its wings in response, and took off into the air, spiraling off in an eastern direction.

Karl crossed his arms behind his head and continued walking through the street, whistling to himself. His violin was slung across his back where it would stay until the time for business came. While Karl did love to play, he didn't want to draw attention to himself. If he managed to kill this boy without drawing any attention to himself, than all the better.

His mistake previously had been violent drawn out combat. That had drained his energy and left him vulnerable. It was technically the whole reason he was in this situation to begin with. He'd been reckless. But now, Karl had no time limit, and long as he was careful he'd never run out of energy.

He rubbed the back of his head and chuckled to himself, "I just hope this Jack doesn't have any guns," he rubbed the center of his chest, "Such uncivilized weapons."

Speaking of weapons, Arma returned rather quickly to the living statue, and landed on his shoulder. She reached her head up to his ear and to the casual observer it might have looked like she was whispering something. Though if asked, Karl wouldn't say anything on the matter. He was an odd one like that.

The bird retracted from his ear and Karl let out a laugh, "Really? Only three blocks down?"

Arma actually gave a short nod at this, inciting a chuckle from Karl, "Why, then lead on my feathered companion. The sooner we complete our job, the sooner we're free!"

Karl lifted his hand to the air, and the shadowy crow took off in the same direction she had come from earlier. Which happened to be over a group of low single and two story buildings. Now, for a human that would make her quite hard to follow. For Karl, it just made his journey a little more fun.

He walked up to the building, bent his knees, and then shot up the surface of the store. There was a soft thud when he landed on the roof, and then he stood up and straightened his orange coat as if nothing had happened. Arma was flapping in place a few feet in front of him with her head cocked to the side, as if asking 'what took you so long?'

Karl smiled and walked to the near edge of the roof, "I was admiring the view Arma. You must admit it is a startling beautiful night out."

He wasn't lying. Due to Jaspers remote location and small population, the desert sky was littered in a blanket of shining stars. Millions filled the sky, not at all affected by the few lights that illuminated Jasper. Not even the full moon that hung in the sky like something out of a stage production dimmed their brightness.

Taking a second more to appreciate the view, Karl then motioned to Arma, "Lead on then Arma. Wouldn't want to be late, now would we?"

The bird took this as her sign to continue on, and began the flight towards the school. Karl kept pace, jumping from roof to roof and running at a leisurely stroll behind her. He easily managed to jump between buildings, and landed rather softly given his surprising weight. And after a few minutes of this, Arma landed at the edge of a small restaurant building, Karl close behind.

"So this is the place, hmm?" Karl scratched at his chin once he caught up with her. Arma fluttered up and perched atop his head were she sat comfortably while the living statue looked over the school.

It was a large brick building, three stories high with a bright green lawn on the front yard on either side of the staircase leading into the building. There was a small empty parking lot at the front of the school, and several small trees dotted the area. There was a large sign at the parking lot exit, which read 'Jasper High' in big bronze letters.

Karl leaned on his knee overlooking the school and smirked, "Seems we've found the place Arma." he frowned, "Though it's a bit…empty. Odd."

The bird pecked at his head and Karl smiled cheerily, "Oh that's right! I forgot that humans didn't go to school _all _the time. Only during the day."

This would slow his plans down somewhat. He'd hoped to find the school, find Jack, confront him, and kill him. Unfortunately, this seemed like an option that would have to unfortunately wait. Karl hopped down onto the ledge and held out his hand.

Arma fluttered down and perched on his index finger, where she began pruning her feathers, "Guess we'll have to wait a while, won't we Arma?" he sighed rather upset.

She stopped for a moment and looked at him, making him smile, "As fun as it would be to bust down every door and kill all the humans inside, there are probably humans with guns here. And I think we both know that attacking them wouldn't work out in my favor."

Guns were quite effective against the living statue. Though he had doubts that he was still crafted of resin, the lack of feeling anything more than basic feedback told him that he was more than likely still crafted of some particularly hard material. Which meant that bullets would be quite annoying to the pirate themed statue.

Arma regarded him with a look and Karl raised a brow in response, "Hey, no need to resort to name calling Arma. You remember what happened last time we confronted a human with guns." he rubbed the center of his chest again, where the bullet had shattered part of his body.

The bird gave the closest equivalent of a shrug and returned to her preening, "Glad we understand each other," Karl said with a smile, and then looked back at Jasper High. There was no telling how long it would be until daylight came and the school opened. So all he could do was wait.

Karl gave a shrug at this, making Arma rebalance herself, and pulled his new violin off from his back. The glowing purple writing had vanished now, leaving nothing but smooth tarnished wood in its place. Something Karl preferred. It was far too beautiful an instrument to ruin with such ugly writing. At least, in his opinion, which he thought quite highly of.

Seeing the instrument in her companions hand, Arma formed herself back into a shadowy black bow with a single red dot at the end. Karl gave a warm smile at that, "You know me so well Arma," he said, and drew the bow gently across the strings of the violin. Sweet music floated into the night sky as the lone statue played through the darkness…

* * *

Jack sighed as he looked out the window. It was a bright sunny day, without a cloud in the sky. The air was a refreshing seventy eight degree's and there was a nice breeze passing through Jasper at the moment. But this did nothing to help improve the view he had from the principals office.

Honestly, it wasn't even the teen's fault. Vince, the local red headed bully had been picking on his friend Raf as usual. It's just that recently Raf's own best friend Bumblebee had just lost his T-Cog so…okay, getting ahead of the plot here.

Let's start with Jack. He was a sixteen year old teenage boy, with ebony hair, stormy blue eyes, and paled skin. Often times he wore a long sleeve grey shirt with a darker grey T-shirt on top of it. To complete the look, he wore blue jeans and sneakers. Just your average everyday American teenager, nothing special right?

Wrong.

As normal as he looked, Jack was actually friends to a unique group of people. And not unique like Raf, who was in fact a boy genius in every sense of the word. No, unique in that he was friends with giant, thirty foot tall, transforming alien robots from a planet called Cybertron… and he happened to get dragged into their war, going on many, _many _adventures with these Cybertronians, or _Autobots _as they liked to be called.

See, the bots were at war with a much eviler faction called the Decepticons. A group of nasty Cybertronians intent on genocide, oppression, galactic domination, etc. You know, typical evil villain stuff. And Jack had been involved in much of their war when he met his partner, a large blue femme named Arcee, who happened to double as his motorcycle.

Now, with that all said, the reason Jack was in the principal's office was because he'd decked the local bully Vince straight in the face. The reason was because he'd picked on his friend Raf who was experiencing a hard enough time with his own guardian, a towering yellow Autobot named Bumblebee. Who had lost his ability to transform, alla the theft of his T-Cog.

So Jack, being typical Jack, had stood up for his friend, only to get his aft kicked and sent to the principal. After having the new shiner he was sporting looked at by the nurse that is. Though Vince had gotten out of the scuffle worse for wear with a possibly broken nose, and was still being looked over.

Meaning that Jack was left to face the wrath of Mr. Norman without that idiot interfering. So that was a plus at least. Or would be, if the principal would look up from his computer and talk to him! It had been a good two or three minutes since he'd been brought in, and not a word had been said.

So Jack had taken to looking out the open window as he waited. He really just wanted to go outside where everyone else was. After all, school was over and he could see Arcee waiting in the parking lot with Bulkhead. Ratchet was parked outside the parking lot in his ambulance alternate mode, obviously there to pick up Raf since Bee couldn't.

A sudden shift of movement out of the corner of his eye caught Jacks attention and he looked towards a tree a few dozen feet directly across from the window. A small black crow had landed on the branch closest to the window, preening its feathers as it did.

Jack looked at the bird, trying to figure out why it was unsettling him. It looked like your average crow, nothing out of the ordinary. So what was it about the crow that set him on-

"Mr. Darby." the principal said. Jacks head shot back to the principal.

"S-sorry, yes Mr. Norman?" he replied quickly. The principal, Mr. Norman, was a tall physically fit man with a head of thinning hair. He was in his mid sixties, and while not the most intimidating man in the world, he did carry an air of respect about him due to his years of handling rowdy high schoolers. A duty that would earn any man or woman that same air.

Mr. Norman settle some papers on his desk and then folded his hands together, "This is the first time you've been in my office since freshman year Jack. Care to explain what happened out there?"

Jack rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Well, Mr. N, it was just a bit of a disagreement between Vince and I." he started.

Immediately Jack realized how much bull that was. And so did Mr. Norman, "A scuffle doesn't leave you with a shiner like that Jack. Vince did something idiotic to get under your skin. Problem is, I can't do anything about it until you tell me."

And that was the problem. Being a teenager, Jack was reluctant to tell any authority figure outside his mother what his problems were. So he was reluctant to say anything to the principal…

"Jack." Mr. Norman warned, "If you don't tell me what happened, I'll bring Vince in and then _he _can explain what happened."

This made Jack instantly blurt out what had made him attack Vince, "He was bullying Raf and I got sick of it!" better he tell him the truth than let Vince tell him whatever half-baked idea he'd come up with. Probably half-baked when he came up with it too.

A small frown formed on Mr. Normans face, "He was, was he?" he asked, "And why, Jack, did you decide to involve yourself in this. Or better yet, not tell one of the staff so they could handle it?"

Jack blinked before an answer came to mind, "Well sir, thing is Raf's been having a rough time lately at home. Vince was just making it worse, so I decided to stick up for him."

Mr. Norman nodded, "Admirable. But that doesn't explain why you didn't contact the staff?"

"No one likes a squealer," Jack explained, before adding, "Sir."

"I see," Mr. Norman chuckled before looking back at his computer screen. Jack waited for roughly two agonizing minutes before Mr. Norman looked back at him.

"I'm not putting this on your permanent record Jack. But only because you were defending another student. And only this once. If you do this again, I won't go so easy on you. Am I clear?"

Jack gave a very stiff nod, "Crystal." he squeaked.

A smile crossed the principals face, "Good. You're free to go," he made a waving gesture.

His interregation over, Jack gratefully exited his seat and moved to the door, "Wait." Mr. Norman ordered. Jack froze.

"Send in Mr. Nairabrab, will you?" he asked.

Jack smiled and gave an affirmative nod. Then he opened the door and left to go to the nurses office. Mr. N returned to his game of solitaire while he waited for Vince to show. Given what he'd heard and where the nurses office was, he had a few good minutes before the teen would show up.

Time to see if he could beat his-

"Why hello there!"

"JESUS CHRIST!" the principal yelped, nearly falling out of his chair on his rear. He didn't, but he came pretty close. Nearly suffered a heart attack too. However, he did manage to calm himself fairly quickly and turned to the source of the voice and raised a brow.

A man dressed eerily similar to…well a pirate of all things was leaning on the window sill, a crow perched on his shoulder, and a grey scar running across his left eye. Mr. Norman had seen some weird men in his time, living so close to Vegas, so Karl came in about…fifth all things considered.

Karl gave the principal an apologetic look, "Deary me, I didn't mean to startle you sir. Are you alright?"

Mr. Norman took a few breaths and nodded, before looking at the odd man more seriously, "I'm fine, but who exactly are you…and what do you want?"

"Who, me? I'm just a traveler heading through town. An associate of mine asked me to look up an old friend of his though, and I was wondering if you knew him?" Karl asked innocently, a friendly smile on his face.

Now, Mr. Norman was a fairly smart man. He'd dealt with a lot of bullcrap from students in the pass. But Karl? He almost got him to convince his story. But there was something very…off about him. Mr. N couldn't put his finger on it, but it was a feeling that told him to avoid telling the man _anything_.

"Sorry," he apologized, "But I'm afraid I probably wouldn't know who you're talking about."

A disappointed frown crossed Karl's face, only to immediately be replaced by a smile, "Oh really? Are you certain? I'm looking for a student, his name is Jack Darby. You sure you don't know him?"

Mr. Norman scowled, "Positive. Now sir, I'll only ask this once. Leave the school grounds immediately, or I'll call the cops."

The entire room grew deathly still. Karl stood at the window sill with an unreadable expression, while the principal sat there, silently praying to god that the man decided to listen to him and leave. He briefly saw Karl's eyes swivel from side to side, as if he were looking to see if there were any…any witnesses.

Mr. Norman began scooting towards his phone, and slowly grabbed the device. As he did though, Karl put on a friendly smile, "Okay then!" he gave a friendly wave and turned on his heel, walking off campus.

The principal slumped in his chair and rubbed his forehead, "Good god, could this day get any more stressful?" he asked no one.

Then, as if god himself was torturing the old man, the door opened and Vince walked in, "Mr. N, Darby's a dirty lying piece of…"

Mr. N felt his eye twitch, "I spoke too soon…"

* * *

Karl let out a sigh as he walked with his feathered companion, his arms comfortably crossed behind his head, "Well, so much for that." he mumbled.

Arma pecked him on the head, getting a dull 'plink' from his body. He looked over at her and smiled, "Oh silly bird. I know I could've ripped the information from him. But there were too many witnesses! We don't want to attract attention to ourselves yet, now do we?"

Much as Karl hated to admit it, he didn't want to take on an entire police force…yet. And with a school full of human children (He shuddered at the thought of sharing such a crowded place with so many humans) getting out and about, he simply didn't want to risk being caught.

He did blame himself for missing the start of the school. By the time he'd 'woken' up, the school was already over. Apparently when Unicron told him he would regenerate energy, he meant that he gifted Karl with the ability to sleep. Great. Still, there were worse fates. He could have been resurrected as a human. The very idea made him wrinkle his face in disgust.

The pirate themed statue passed a pedestrian, who just stared at him. He ignored him and resumed talking once they were out of earshot, "Trust me, next chance I get I'll hang the man by his intestines and cut him down with his fingernails for wasting our time. But you have to admit, with no time limit we can take this time to enjoy ourselves!"

The bird blinked in response, making Karl chuckle, "Oh come now, don't tell me you don't want to take this time to find a nice spot to play the violin? No? How about a killing spree?"

That was something that always cheered the two up when times were down. The bird just blinked a few times at him and Karl shrugged, "I'm just saying. Our 'employer' never gave us a specific time to kill this 'Jack' fellow. So why not enjoy our time?"

Arma didn't respond, instead tilting to the side and looking past Karl. This made him pause and follow her gaze. He hadn't noticed, but the statue had walked to the outskirts of town on the eastern side. There were no human houses on this side, though Karl did see something that interested him.

An old abandoned warehouse of sorts. To most it would seem like the last sort of interesting building out there. But obviously, Karl wasn't any normal person. Honestly, all he could think of when seeing the building was two things.

One, playing the violin in there would be an amazing experience. And two, it would give him a sort of hideout to stick to when he wasn't hunting Jack. The perfect place in fact. Big, obscure, and it told humans to stay away.

"What more could a guy ask for?" he cheered, and then casually walked across the street towards the building. It was roughly two stories tall and in mild disrepair, but he'd seen worse. And it beat the hell out of that island he'd been stuck on for so long.

Karl approached a large door, covered in stains of rust, and placed his fingers against it. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no humans were watching him. Surprisingly, the area was fairly empty. Something the statue attributed to the towns small size.

Slowly he creaked the door open, and slipped inside, still watching the general area. Once inside, he tugged on the door to make sure it was held securely in place. Smiling, Karl turned around to investigate his new home and promptly froze as the sound of a half dozen weapons being drawn echoed through the building.

The building was shiny and new on the inside, with large pillars holding it up, and racks of weapons lining the walls and being stacked in large piles. And of course, all these weapons were guns. Much to Karl's disgust. A half built computer rested against the far wall, nowhere near complete yet though.

But the more immediate concern for Karl and by extension Arma, were the half dozen men dressed in green body armor with glowing green goggles and rifles pointed at the pirate themed statue. Judging by the size of them, Karl would need to be _very _careful in what he did now.

"Hands in the air!" one of the armored men ordered.

Karl did as he was told, Arma perching herself on his head. He smiled at the men, "Why hello!" he greeted cheerfully.

"Shut it!" another ordered.

Karl frowned and felt his eye twitch slightly, "You're trespassing on private property. Get down on the ground now!" the same man ordered.

A small smile appeared on Karl's face, "Oh, I'm sorry." he apologized, "I think I had the wrong building. See, I'm what you might call a performer. I was supposed to be at a party to entertain." he explained.

"I don't care. Get down, now!" the green armored man ordered.

One of the men turned their heads away briefly and put a finger to their ear, quietly speaking to themselves, "Commander, we've got an intruder on outpost Theta…" the rest was too quiet for Karl to hear.

"Oh but surely you'd want to see some of my material!" Karl insisted, his smile growing wider.

The men tightened their grips on their rifles, "On the ground. Now!"

Karl held out his index finger to Arma. The bird hopped on and then shape-shifted into a… black top hat, "See? Now watch."

The men stared at the statue in amazement from what they saw. Not every day they saw a crow turn into a top hat just like that. And that was their second mistake. Their first was not shooting Karl on site. And number three was on its way.

Karl lowered the hat and reached into it, biting his upper lip, "Now let's see here…" he made a show of reaching deep into the hat, as if what he was looking for was really deep in there. The fact that this ploy worked on these armed men said much about their intelligence…or lack there of.

A bright smile lit up Karl's face, "Ah!" he pulled his hand out of the hat, which vanished as he did. And in his hand now was a seven foot tall spear with a wickedly long blade on the end, and colored pitch black.

"Ta-da!" Karl announced, and then promptly threw the spear at the man who'd been yelling at him. There was the sickening sound of something hard impacting flesh, followed by curses and screams of pain. It was all the time Karl needed, as he bent down and grinned sadistically.

Arma fluttered back to his hand and reformed into a blade. All in a matter of seconds of course, which gave the new commander of these guards time to utter a single command.

"Open fire!" and then Karl charged forward…

**A/N: Again, guilty pleasure my friends. I really really like writing Karl, okay? His dialogue just flows onto the screen, and he's just so much fun to write! With that said, what did you think of this chapter? It should be worth noting a lot of this story will be following Karl and Jack. I apologize in advance if you wanted something more bot centric, but those more hardcore fans of mine know I tend to focus less on them. Not because I don't like them, just…well, because that's how I roll. So anyway, Karl met MECH. May the lord have mercy on their souls. And remember to review with ideas, questions, or critique, and PM me with the same as well. Ciao! **


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Meetings

Karl finished wiping the blood off his blade, smiling as he did so. Dead bodies littered the warehouse, resting in pieces. It had been a good long while since the living statue had gone on a good killing spree. And honestly, it was a long time coming. These idiots hadn't the slightest idea of who they were dealing with.

Well, for the most part anyway. Karl finished cleaning his blade and let Arma shape shift back into her crow form. She fluttered up to his shoulder and pecked at a missing piece of his right shoulder. A lucky shot from one of the goons.

Karl patted at the injury, "Nothing we can't fix or cover up Arma," he replied, and moved over to the man that had delivered the injury.

He lay with his head in his lap, and his right arm in three pieces. His gun was nothing but a pile of broken pieces. Karl really didn't like getting shot. But focusing on the remains of the man wasn't why he approached him.

Instead, the statue knelt down and picked up a chipped piece of stone lying amidst the blood. After briefly wiping it off, Karl placed it over the hole in his shoulder and held it there. To his surprise, a line of light flashed along the seam. When it faded, the chip had faded into his shoulder. It looked like he was completely unharmed now.

Karl smiled at that, "Well what do you know. Our friend was being honest with us. What a nice change of pace, wouldn't you agree, Arma?"

The crow pecked at the spot where his shoulder had healed and Karl laughed, "Why yes, I agree. This would have been useful back in Taitile."

Thinking back, being able to heal himself so easily would have made this whole arrangement pointless. He'd be free and off doing whatever he wanted, not hunting down one little human. Something he'd get back to after he cleaned this area up.

The entire warehouse looked like a war zone now. With all the bodies littering the floor, blood splattered against the wall, and bits of flesh scattered about… Well, Karl may enjoy the occasional slaughter, but that didn't mean he enjoyed the mess that came with it.

"Well Arma," he stood up and began pacing, "Seems we've got some cleanup to do. Which means we'll need more supplies than what they've got here."

The bird blinked at him and he smiled, "No, I don't intend to steal it. I might be a 'monster' but I'm no thief."

Karl knelt down by a bisected body and searched through its pockets. He felt no disgust in grave robbing. After all, he wasn't human and so such squishiness had no effect on him at all. He found the green paper that humans used as money and pocketed it in his coat. But before he stood up, he heard what sounded like a person's voice.

_"Theta Outpost, respond! That's an order!" _it commanded.

Karl and Arma exchanged looks. The bird ruffled its feathers, and Karl smiled, "It would be rude to just ignore a friendly conversation, wouldn't it?" Arma blinked in response, prompting a laugh from him.

"My thoughts exactly, you devious bird you." he swiped what appeared to be… what was it humans called it? A cellphone? Yeah, that was it.

_"Theta Outpost, resp-"_

"Hello?" Karl called into the small square device, "Is this thing working?"

There was silence in response and Karl frowned, "I guess it is."

Before he could toss the phone away though, the voice returned _"Who are you? How'd you get on this channel!?" _

Karl smirked and rubbed his chin. Oh the fun he could have with this. Karl cleared his throat, preparing to speak.

"I'm afraid your 'theta outpost' decided to 'split up'." he informed the voice with a happy laugh.

It took a moment for the voice to figure out exactly what Karl meant by that. And when it did, he responded quite angrily, _"You…you killed them? You bastard!"_

Karl chuckled and scratched at his chin, "Oh stop, you make me blush." he smiled, though the voice couldn't see it.

_"Who. Are. You?"_ the voice demanded. Every word was dripping with venom, which only served to goad Karl on.

He began pacing as he spoke. Arma fluttered up to his head and perched there as usual, "I'm just your average psychotic vigilante. See, a thief killed my parents and I never recovered from the incident."

Dead silence from the voice. Karl smirked. That one got them every time.

Finally, after a few moments of silence, the voice spoke back over the phone, "_Listen you. I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for money, you won't get any. But we do have are a very particular set of skills, skills we have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make us a nightmare for people like you. If you leave Jasper and never come back, that'll be the end of it. We will not look for you, we will not pursue you. But if you don't, we will look for you, we will find you, and we will kill you."_

Karl yawned once the man finished monologuing, "Brilliant speech my friend. Also unoriginal. You stole that from Taken."

_"Wh- No I didn't! I came up with that a week ago!"_ the voice protested.

"Uh-huh. Call me back when you have something entertaining to say," Karl chuckled and pulled the phone away, ready to shut it off.

_"Why you no good little-"_

"Sounds great," Karl interrupted, "But I've got things to do. Bye-bye now!" and he hung up. The image of the caller screaming furiously in rage brought a smile to Karl's face. Armar pecked him on the head.

Karl looked up and continued smiling, "What? I may hate humans, but I do enjoy their culture. You can't deny there's a certain fascination to it Arma."

The bird blinked and Karl laughed, lifting his hand up. The bird flitted over to his index finger where she stayed. Karl scratched her under the beak for a moment, before letting her fly off to explore the warehouse.

With her gone, Karl was left to his own devices for the moment. He looked at the phone in his hands, and thought about throwing it away for a moment… and then decided against it. He pocketed it in his coat. Who knew what kind of fun he could have with the phone after all?

With the device put away, Karl looked around the ruined warehouse again, "Hmm, I could clean up, or…" he reached behind himself and grabbed his violin.

However, as he pulled it out, he froze. Then a visible twitch appeared under his left eye. He could feel his temper slowly rising. Because, he wasn't sure why or how, but his violin was broken! The strings were all snapped!

Karl let out a sorrowful sigh, "This is what I get for bringing it into combat." he walked over to the chair situated in front of the computer and set the violin down carefully. If he was going to fix it, he'd need new strings, which meant…

"I need to go back into town." he put his hands on his hips and sighed while shaking his head, "Of all the…" Arma landed back on his head.

"I suppose it could be worse." he admitted to her.

The bird cocked her head to the side, "Yes, I know. I shouldn't have fought with it. Thank you Arma."

As if this somehow satisfied her, Arma hopped down to his shoulder and settled there. Karl sighed and walked to the entrance, occasionally stepping over the dead body. No reason to track bloody footprints behind him into town and attracting attention to himself.

Placing his hand on the door, Karl pushed it open and walked back out into Jasper…

* * *

"So, Jack, where'd you get the shiner?" Arcee asked as they rode to base. She'd been forced to wait an extra few minutes for him while Raf and Miko left. When Jack had finally come out, Arcee saw the black eye he was sporting now.

Jack tapped his helmet since he couldn't reach the black eye, "Little scuffle with Vince." he sighed.

"The bully?" she asked with a tense voice. It was no secret to Jack that Arcee had NO love for Vince. After all, he made the mistake of calling her ugly. And one of the many rules of Autobot HQ? _Never _call Arcee ugly.

Jack sighed, "Yes, the bully."

"Jack, you're mom's not gonna like that." Arcee reminded him. Jack winced. His mother would throw a fit.

He scratched the back of his head as the base came into view. Though it appeared to be your average mesa, the Autobot HQ was in fact hidden within. Something that still blew Jacks mind at times.

"Yeah… but he was picking on Raf. What was I supposed to do?" Jack asked.

Arcee let out a sigh, "Jack, we've had this talk. There's always another way. Not everything has to end in death or violence."

Jack just sighed in response and looked off in the distance. Wise words, coming from the soldier of a million year war. He meant no disrespect, but… Sometimes when push came to shove, you had to shove back.

And hard.

If Vince picked on Raf again like that, and there were no nearby teachers, Jack would quickly come to the young boys defense. It was in his nature after all…

* * *

"Hmph, well I believe we found what we're looking for Arma," Karl stood looking up at the sign hanging from the building. It read as _'Classic Instrumentals'_. Not the most creative name in Karl's opinion, but it would do. He just hoped they had strings for violins.

Karl put a hand on the door and was about to enter, when a sign caught his attention. In big red letters it read _'No pets allowed'._ He and Arma exchanged a look. The bird blinked at him rapidly, as if to say _'Don't even think about leaving me out here!'_

"I won't," he promised her, and opened his coat, "Just stay in here till we're done. Okay?"

Arma bobbed her head and then entered his coat. She shrank into a smaller form and soon Karl barely noticed her presence in her coat. And with that little issue taken care of (Humans and their rules. Ugh.) he entered the store.

It wasn't the most luxurious store he'd ever been in, that was for sure. There were counters with classical records and CD's occupying most of the store, with a few instruments on display. He saw no violins, but he assumed maybe they were in the back or out of stock. The store was also mostly empty, with only a bored cashier at the register, and a black haired woman browsing classical section. Well at least she had good taste.

Karl looked to the back of the store and decided to start there. With his hands in his pockets, he strolled on over to the back and began searching for the strings he would need. He searched high and low for several minutes. And with each passing minute, his smile slowly turned into a frown. There were no spare strings he could find.

Well, strike that. There were strings for _other _instruments. But none for violins. Something that really got on the living statues nerves. Still, he wasn't going to give up that easy. So he moved to the next wall and continued searching. But again, he found nothing. So he moved to the next wall _again_ and what a surprise…nothing.

Actually, that's not true. There was something. An empty shelf labeled '_Violin Strings_ ' and it was empty. Not a single pack. Karl felt his eye twitch again, and he let out a low groan of disappointment. No violin strings. No violin. All work and no violin made Karl a very dull boy. It was best they had _some _here, or he'd go on another killing spree. Cops or not.

Karl turned around to the cash register, where the cashier was casually reading a magazine to himself. The statue suppressed a shudder and walked up to the cash register. The cashier looked up from his magazine. He wasn't the most respectable looking fellow. Slightly overweight, patchy facial hair, and his own hair tied back in a pony tail. He wore thick glasses and a black T-shirt.

"Hello," Karl greeted in his usual friendly tone, "I couldn't help but notice a distinct lack of stock for anything related to violins. You see, my violin recently suffered some minor damage, and I would prefer to repair it sooner than later."

The cashier sighed, "Sorry sir, but if it's not on the shelves, than we don't have it. Come again another day."

Karl's eye twitched again, much more visibly this time, "Let me make myself clear. I _need _to fix my violin and soon."

If Karl's twitching eye was tipping the cashier off to how close to death he was, he didn't notice, "Look Jack Sparrow, if it's not on the shelves we're out okay? I'm not going to go look in the nonexistent back for a pack of violin strings for some sort of pirate."

The weak smile on Karl's face turned back into a frown, "I'm not a pirate." he stated.

The cashier snorted, "Could've fooled me. All your missing is the eye patch. Word of advice body, I'd invest in one."

Karl's patience was about gone by that point, and he reached into his coat. Arma shifted into a blade within his coat. Screw the consequences, this human was going to die-

"Um, excuse me, I think I can help," a voice interrupted. Karl's head whipped around to see it was the black haired woman. Up close he saw she was slightly shorter than he was, with stormy blue eyes and pale skin. She was dressed in a beige jacket and pants with a green scrub shirt. She looked like a nurse. So Karl watched hospital dramas. What about it?

Still, that was second in Karl's mind. His main concern was the woman claiming to help him with his violin issue, "Oh, is that so? And what is your name madam?"

The woman blinked at the term before speaking, "You can call me June. I'm a local nurse. But that's beside's the point. I think I might have some extra strings for violins at my place."

"You play?" Karl asked. His body stiffened for a fraction of a second while memories flashed through his mind. A violin singing through the night, a red haired girl… blood everywhere. And as quick as it started, he shook it off and returned his attention to her.

"I dabbled," June shrugged, "More partial to the piano honestly. But I held onto them in case I needed them. If you just give me your cell phone, I can call you if I find them. I'll give them to you free of charge."

Now it was Karl's turn to blink, "…Thank you. That's very kind of you." it was a rare gesture for a human to offer something without wanting something in return. In fact, this seemed far too good to be true in his opinion.

"What do you want in return?" he asked, letting his suspicion show.

The cashier laughed and returned to his reading. Karl would rip his head off later.

June smiled innocently, "Maybe a free concert? I'm always so busy at the hospital I haven't had time to attend any. If it's no trouble of course. I don't want to be a nuisance or anything."

And before he knew what he was saying, the words left his mouth, "Why sure, I'd love to. So few h-people" he corrected, "Appreciate my skills." inwardly he was puzzled. Why had he agreed to that? He blamed the fact that at his own home _no one _appreciated his skills on the violin. So having someone appreciating it would be nice. Even a human.

"Great," June clapped her hands together with a smile, "Just give me your number and I'll call you on over once my shifts done. I'm on break right now."

"My… right, I don't really know my number," Karl reached into his coat and produced the phone he had 'borrowed' from that dead man.

June took it and flipped it open, "No problem. Just give me a minute… ah ha!" she said, "And there it is." she brought out her own phone and copied his number.

Then she handed him his phone back, "I'll give you a call in about…two or three hours?"

Karl just nodded, still trying to figure out what was going on at the moment, "Sure. I'll just be around the town for the time. I guess you could call me a tourist." he lied.

"Explains the getup." June said, giving him the once over, "Though, props for something unique."

Karl inwardly shook himself of this weird funk and quickly found his wit. He grinned happily again, "What, this old thing? Just something I threw together." he said and strode past the woman towards the door.

He propped it open with one hand and gave an exaggerated bow, "I thank you for the compliment though, and look forward to this evening madam." and like that he was gone.

June crossed her arms and tapped her chin while wearing a curious expression, "Tonight's going to be an interesting night." she mumbled.

The cashier coughed into his hand and June turned around, "What?"

"You gonna buy something or just stand there all day?" he demanded.

June scowled at him, "Reggie, remember our little chat about treating people with respect?" though she couldn't see it, June knew the man crossed his legs under the table.

"Yes ma'am. Sorry ma'am."

She smiled sweetly, "That's what I thought. And no, I won't. I'll see you tomorrow Reggie."

"See ya Mrs. Darby."

Back with Karl, he let the bird out of his coat. She perched on his shoulder and pecked at his ear. Karl patted her on the head, "Calm down Arma. It's just one night and then we'll never see that human again." he promised her.

The bird ruffled her feathers and hunched down, "Well aren't you the positive one." the statue deadpanned, before doing something he hadn't ever done before. He yawned. And not a fake bored yawn. A tired, need to sleep, yawn.

Karl's good mood evaporated as he tried to comprehend what he just did. Then, his left leg froze and he fell to his knees with a grunt, "Oh come on! No way it's that fast!" he yawned again.

It didn't make sense. Back in Taitile he hadn't run out of energy that fast. Sure he was able to recharge his energy now, but… The gears clicked. That was how he recharged. By sleeping. Karl stared down at his hands. Full color back to his body, and now he needed to sleep.

"How human did he make me?" he asked in a shaky voice.

Arma blinked at him, and Karl shook his head, "You're right. I'm overreacting." He put a hand on the ground and pushed himself up. He yawned again.

"This is annoying!" he yawned, and rubbed at his eye, "I need to get this over with."

With that, Karl ducked into a nearby alleyway and scaled the wall. He clambered onto the roof and sat against it, resting his head back. He'd taken rests before, and even fallen asleep the night before. But to take a nap in the middle of the day didn't seem-

Karl fell asleep before he could finish the though, snoring peacefully while Arma fluttered down and nestled in his lap where she'd wait for him to wake back up when the time came…

**A/N: So I know this is a short chapter, but I didn't intend it to be long. But with that said, what do you guys think so far. Do you think I should keep this story going? And what about Karl's encounter with June Darby hmm? What'd you guys think? Let me know what you thought in the reviews, OR tell me if I should continue. Also, don't forget to PM with questions and ideas. Bye!**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Solo Performance

It was a clear night in Castle of Nations. Only a few puffy clouds passed over the sky, while the magical theme park itself seemed to be trapped in an eternal time zone of peace and tranquility. There was little activity in the park, but there was a sound echoing through its many rides and attractions.

The elegant sighing of a violin performance coming to a close, its strings singing beautifully as its player finally finished her performance and began packing up. She was a girl, barely a woman, with bright red curly hair and a petite face. She wore a long black skirt and shirt, and was packing her simple violin away into its case. Much to the dismay of her one man audience.

"I'm sorry Karl, but I have to head home." she apologized to him.

"What, already?" the living statue whined, "Don't you humans say the night is young?"

The young woman smiled apologetically while clicking the case to her violin shut, "Yes, and we also say youths should sleep early. Sorry Karl." she apologized again.

Karl put his hands on his hips and huffed, "Hunf, sleep…"

He turned around with a large smile on his face while showing off the 'Pirate Island' logo burned labeled on his shirt, "We statues never sleep!" he proclaimed proudly.

The woman just smiled at her friends antics. He was always the silly one, Karl was.

"…So we can never dream, either…" he added solemnly. Her smile turned into a look of concern.

One that was unwarranted, as Karl turned back around to face her with a large smile on his face. The black eye patch painted onto his face did little to hide the obvious charisma and friendliness that seemed to flow off the statue.

"Anyways!" he continued, "At least allow me to guide you 'til the bridge!"

She smiled at that and Karl hopped back on one foot, his good mood back in full force, "You wouldn't want to meet the crocodiles again, now, would you?"

This got a small giggle out of the young woman, and Karl let out his own chuckle, "Deary me, no!"

And with that, he carefully lead her out of the park. Which while no danger to him, was quite dangerous to an unarmed young woman such as Rachel's. This was a ritual they performed at least once a week. She would come after hours and the statue and her would talk and interact. Most commonly she either played her violin, or taught Karl how to play himself.

He had concocted his own violin in his spare time, and though it was nowhere near as nice as hers, he was quite proud of having built it. After all, he'd built it purely from seeing Rachel use hers, and it sounded quite nice.

But that aside, the two reached the exit to Pirate Island soon enough, Rachel standing there a little awkwardly, "Well… Guess I'll see you next week or so…"

She gave him a small smile and turned to leave, "Take care Karl!"

Karl watched her go, his smile slowly fading into a neutral expression. He debated if he should say anything else before she did…

Rachel had gone no more than ten feet before Karl called after her, "Rachel, wait…"

She stopped and turned back around. Karl had his hands crossed behind his back and was looking off in a different direction, a thoughtful expression on his pale stone face, "Hmm…" he hummed aloud.

A small smile broke out on Rachel's face, "What is it, Karl?"

Karl was silent for a moment, before he closed his eyes and sighed, "Nah, never mind!" he said cheerily, "Goodbye!"

Rachel smiled sweetly at him, "…Bye…" she said and resumed walking while Karl again watched her go.

The words of his fellow statues echoed in his mind:

_"You're going too far, buddy…"_

_"Am I?"_

_"You have to stop it before it gets out of control."_

_"Hmm. Sorry, what's this about, again?"_

_"How can you keep joking like that? Honestly, I shudder just by the thought of what you're doing!"_

_"…"_

_"If this keeps going on, buddy, I tell ya, you'll be demoted to the rank of anchor in no time!"_

_"Ahaha, oh, you crack me up!"_

_"I'm serious! Know your limits!"_

Karl returned to the present and mentally sighed as Rachel slowly walked off, 'Limits…yes of course.' he thought.

_'Now she goes to the outside, learns more songs, plays more violin, gets better…if that's even possible. That's right…'_

His friendly smile began to fade, _'…I'll just stand still here and look pretty.'_

"Tch." he sneered and lowered his hand whilst scowling. Rachel was nearly gone now, and so he turned around and walked back into Pirate Island, with his arms crossed behind his back as he did.

"How I hate this."

* * *

Karl's eyes snapped open and he gasped as he woke up, "What was _that_!?" he demanded of no one in particular. He hadn't thought back to _her _in what felt like years. Honestly, he had no idea how long it had been. Time moved slowly for Karl, and so for all he knew it could have been a few weeks ago. Or it could have been decades ago.

But really, that didn't matter to Karl. What did matter was why he was thinking about it again? He'd just been sleeping, recharging his energy when he was suddenly experiencing the event all over again. It didn't make any sense!

Arma looked up from his lap, where she'd gotten quite comfortable, ruffling her feathers slightly. Karl gave her a reassuring smile, "Why, thanks for the concern Arma. But I'm fine." he pushed himself up to his feet. She flew off his lap and darted to his shoulder, where she rested comfortably.

"Just an odd experience is all." he explained, dusting himself off.

She blinked at him almost accusingly, "Nothing serious, no. Just a…"

Karl went wide eyed as the gears in that stone head of his finally clicked, "A dream…" he looked down at his hands, flexing them. He pinched one and felt nothing. Only the resistance of hard stone.

"Okay, not human," he let out a relieved sigh.

Arma cocked her head to the side curiously. Karl laughed and walked to the edge of the building, taking in the night air. Apparently he'd been asleep for quite some time, as the entire town was once more engulfed in darkness. He really needed to work on conserving his energy, otherwise he'd wind up wasting all his time sleeping.

His attention was taken back to Arma, when she nibbled at his ear, "It's nothing Arma, you don't need to worry over me." he promised.

The bird blinked, clearly unconvinced. Karl let out a laugh and let her off his shoulder onto his finger. He stroked her head delicately, "You really are a worrier Arma. Where would I be without you?"

Without her, it was likely Karl would be a bunch of dust on the floor. A fact that Arma was very much aware of, as she sent a beady eyed glared at her companion. Karl gave her an innocent look, "Why Arma, you insult me. I'm not _that _reckless!"

The bird gave him a look that just screamed _'Are you serious?'_ at him.

"Okay, so I can get carried away…" Karl admitted, "But…"

He was cut off by a distinct ringing noise. Arma's head darted from side to side confused, while Karl frowned. It sounded like a human cell phone. But from what he saw, there were no humans around with cell phones. The only person with a cell phone was…

"Oh." Karl reached into his coat and pulled out the cell phone he'd 'procured' from the nice MECH soldier's body.

It rang once more in his hand, a number displayed on the screen. Shrugging, Karl flipped it open and placed it to his ear, "Hello?" he said quizzically. Who could be calling him?

_"Hello? Is this Karl?"_ a female voice asked.

Karl and Arma exchanged looks, "Why yes, it is. And who might you be?"

_"It's June, from the music store?"_ she reminded him, _"I promised to call you up once I got off my shift for those violin strings you were looking for."_

Karl snapped his fingers as the memory returned to him, "Ah, yes! I remember you." he said.

"I take it you managed to find what I was looking for?"

_"I've got two extra packs,"_ June confirmed, _"I'll send a text to you with my address. You can come pick them up and give me that concert you promised."_

Karl blinked as he struggled to remember that event, "Oh, the concert…right."

_"I hope that's not a problem," _she added, sounding a bit worried.

A small smile spread across Karl's face, "No, it sounds lovely! I haven't had a chance to play for anyone in ages." truthfully he _should _be hunting down that Jack kid, but Karl was never one to focus too much on a given task. At least, not if he had energy to spare.

One could almost hear June's smile over the phone, _"Fantastic. I'll see you in a few minutes."_

"I look forward to it, madam," Karl replied, "See you then."

_"See you then."_ June replied, and then hung up, leaving Karl to himself with Arma.

He looked over at his feathered friend. She was preening again, but looked back up at him and blinked curiously, "It's only a short visit Arma," he promised, "I'll make sure we're in and out in no time. Then we can get back to our hunt, I promise."

The bird stared at him silently, before fluffing itself and resuming her preening. Karl stepped up to the edge of the roof with a smile. A breeze gently brushed against the living statue, ruffling his hair and making his coat flutter behind him. His phone vibrated and beeped in his hand. Karl flipped it open and quickly read the address. He then stuffed it away and looked westward.

"Glad we agree, Arma." he said, and then bent down. He jumped to the next building and made his way to Junes house.

* * *

"Sir? What happens now?" a man clad in green armor asked his superior, who sat in front of a large view screen filled with scrolling data and numbers.

The man was large, muscled, and covered in green body armor. His face was exposed, revealing pale flesh and a cleanly shaven face and head. A nasty scar ran across his face, which was carved into a permanent scowl as he looked over all the data. This man's name was Silas, the leader of MECH. An organization supposedly dedicated to the improvement of mankind through technology.

A goal that had been greatly set back by recent events. This supposed vigilante that had slaughtered Outpost Theta. It was supposed to act as an F.O.B into Jasper where Silas and his men would capture Jack and learn of where the Autobots where.

But now, this man had set that plan back a great deal. With the entire outpost dead, and since it was never completed, they had no way to know who had done it. Most of the systems were incomplete and so there was no way…

Silas' eyes went wide and he leaned forward, "Were the camera's operational at Outpost Theta pre-assault?" he asked.

The armored soldier checked a data pad in his hands, "I'm not sure sir… they might have been…"

That was excellent news. If even one camera was operational, they could ID this maniac and take him down. After all, he seemed to be just as big a threat as the Autobots. If not bigger. The Autobots at least didn't kill humans. This man seemed to be the exact opposite.

"Ah! Got it sir." his assistant announced, "Camera three was just onlined when we lost contact. Accessing now."

Silas gave a curt nod, and leaned back into his chair as an image flickered onscreen. It showed the entire warehouse from the upper left hand corner of the structure, giving a bird's eye view to the soldiers below. Silas watched intently as the far door opened and a man dressed like… a pirate entered the building, yet unaware of MECH's presence.

"Definitely dressed the part of a vigilante…" Silas muttered to himself as the video continued onto Karl's 'magic trick'.

"Sir, what's he doing?" the assistant asked as Karl reached into the 'top hat'. Silas scowled angrily as he watched.

"Distracting them," he sneered, "And they fell for it."

"Sir?"

Silas raised a hand, "Watch." he ordered.

The assistant did just that, and the two watched the screen intently. Karl finally seemed to find what he was looking for in the hat. Neither men could hear what he was saying, but they did see what happened next. Karl pulled out a wickedly sharp spear from seemingly nothingness and flung it at the nearest guard.

"Good god!" the assistant yelped as the man was impaled and Karl began his slaughter. It was easily the most horrifying thing he'd ever seen.

Silas watched the slaughter intently, resting his chin on his folded hands. Karl was nothing more than a blur, a machine of death that flowed from one soldier to the next. They didn't stand a chance against him. Not in such close quarters anyway. If he had enough men and they had a larger gap to fire, they might be able to take him down.

'Have to go for the legs first,' he thought to himself. Take out the legs, and he'd be crippled. Taking him out from there would be simple.

The video ended as Karl slashed the last soldier straight down the middle, bisecting him in two. Blood littered the entire warehouse, and the pirate looking man began wiping off his blade. Then the video ended.

Silas' assistant looked from the blank screen to his superior, "Sir?"

Silas scratched at his chin, "This raises many problems." his brown eyes flicked towards his assistant, "I want our local agents to find this man and tag him. Make sure we know where he is at all times."

He leaned forward and typed a few things on the console in front of him below the screen. A fuzzy picture of Karl appeared on screen, "I want him found and captured. Failing that, I want him dead and his remains brought into base for examination."

The assistant gave a silent salute and walked off into base to bring Silas' orders into reality. All the while he stared up at the picture, "You think you're invincible. Don't you?" he asked.

The picture didn't respond obviously, but Silas didn't care "Well you aren't. No one is. And once we take you down, you'll be another block added to MECH's foundation…"

* * *

June sat in the living room with the two packs sitting on the table in front of her, a warm cup of tea in her hands. She'd arrived home less than fifteen minutes ago to an empty house as per usual. Jack was out with the Autobots, and wouldn't be home till about midnight. That left her alone for three hours.

Now, she held nothing against the Autobots. Some might have called her selfish for trying to take Jack away from them during the whole 'end of the world' incident a few weeks back, but… He was all she had left since his father left them. And after seeing Raf nearly die, it seemed logical to her to take the kids as far away from the bots as possible. After all, the bots were soldiers. Not teenagers.

But with that event now firmly behind her, June was left with another dilemma. Nothing to do when she got home, well besides watch TV and practice playing the piano on the small electric one resting against the wall. Jack normally was home and the two spent their free time together.

Put very simply? June was lonely. She had no one to talk to, and what many people forgot, was that she had needs to. Oh sure, she'd die for her son if she had to. But she got lonely out here by herself. She'd go to base, but the kids made it _very _clear that she wasn't welcome there. At least, Miko did. Raf seemed to tolerate her, while Jack was more embarrassed than anything.

So she'd decided that with her worries put to rest, she wouldn't get involved anymore. Sparing a look at the packets on the table, June reasoned that was why she'd interacted with this 'Karl' person. Sure, he was a bit…eccentric, but June considered herself a good judge of character.

To her, Karl seemed like a lost soul. A victim of tragedy who life had been very unkind to. Something that made her maternal instincts kick into overdrive. She wanted to help him, and figured he'd make for a good challenge to occupy herself with. Jack had his ways of helping the world, and she had hers. Plus well his eccentricities, the ones she'd seen that is, made her laugh a little on the inside. And given everything June had gone through recently, she needed a good laugh every now and then.

She took a sip of her tea and sighed, "God, I'm pathetic." bribing a violin enthusiast with strings for his violin just to satisfy her maternal instincts was a low for her. At least she had no intentions of dating this man yet. She really just wanted someone to talk with.

Though speaking of someone to talk to, there was a thud on the roof. June looked up as a repeated 'thudding' pattern sounded overhead on the rooftop. A moment later, an orange and white figure dropped down in front of the window into the living room. Karl popped up a moment later, pushing the window up.

"Why hello!" he greeted with a wave and a smile.

June blinked as she registered what just happened. Luckily, her strange life made her recovery _almost _flawless, "H-hi." she greeted, "Not very often someone comes in through the window."

Karl looked behind himself with a grin, "Well, I like to consider myself quite different from your average person," he explained.

A black shape followed in after Karl and landed on his shoulder. It took June a moment to realize it was a red eyed crow sitting on Karl's shoulder. She was about to tell it to show, until she saw him pet it.

"Is that your pet?" she asked him. This man just got weirder and weirder the more she got to know him.

Karl held out his index finger and the crow hopped onto it, "This is Arma. She's more a companion than a friend honestly." he held her out, "Say hello Arma."

The crow fluttered over to June and gently landed on her shoulder. June stared at the crow, a bit tongue tied and surprised. Karl let out a laugh and sat on the piano bench, "Don't worry, she won't bite. She seems to like you in fact."

As if to prove this fact, the bird nuzzled June's cheek, making her giggle, "Is it okay if I pet her?" she asked.

Arma stopped for a moment and looked at Karl for a brief moment. The pirate themed figure smiled and nodded, "Of course." he said.

June gently scratched the black crow on the skull. Arma nuzzled into Junes touch, opening one eye at Karl, as if to say _"She is much better at this than you are." _

'Well that's just rude.' Karl mouthed at her.

The bird just nuzzled into June's touch for a moment longer, before Karl coughed into his hand. June looked up from Arma at Karl, "Right, sorry. Strings."

She picked up the packs and held them out for the statue to take, "Here you go."

Karl politely took them from her and popped one open, "Thank you very much June," he said, and reached behind his back to produce his violin. He began restringing it. Arma fluttered over from June to Karl and perched on his head comfortably.

"Quite the tame bird…" June noted.

Karl smiled as he worked, "She's far more intelligent than most people give her credit for," he said, and finished stringing the violin. Constant practice made this a natural skill for him at this point.

"Ah, there we go. All done!" he held the violin out proudly. Arma hopped down from his head behind the living statue.

June examined the violin briefly, "That is really a beautiful instrument, Karl. Where'd you get it?" she asked.

Karl gave a shrug and reached behind him. Arma formed into a bow, and he brought it forward, "An employer of mind gave it to me as an advanced payment."

This made June raise a brow, "Payment for what?"

"Well you see, June," Karl explained, "I'm what you might call a bounty hunter. I track down criminals and the like for various employers. I just so happen to also enjoy the violin."

"A….bounty hunter?" June muttered to herself. That didn't seem to fit Karl at all, at least his outward appearance. But it explained that sense of tragedy she got from him. If he'd been a bounty hunter for long, he'd have experienced his share of tragedy.

Karl nodded as he began to tune his violin, "Yes, a bounty hunter. Quite enjoyable work honestly. But I'd prefer not to talk business," he said and ran the bow over his violin experimentally. The strings sang in a crystal clear note. Karl smiled.

"Excellent!" he said happily, and then looked over at June, "Now, I believe I promised you a concert?"

June shook herself, "Oh, right that. You don't have to do that if it's too much trouble. I was only joking."

"Well, I'm sorry then," Karl said and gave a grin. He loosened up and brought his violin to his collar.

"See, madam, when I promise to play, I'm going to play. So whether you want it or not, I'll be playing."

June gave a small giggle at that, "Then play on." she said.

Karl smiled happily and did just that. His violin sang into the night as he began drawing the bow back and forth across the violin. The strings quivered and vibrated under his careful manipulation. It was an indistinct melody to June, but there were many emotions to it. Whether Karl knew it or not.

Happiness, a playful tune, and satisfaction were all prevalent. The melody suddenly shifted and the emotions took on a darker tone. Anger, betrayal, and sadness. All the while, Karl played with his eyes lightly shut. June wondered where he learned to play like that, but decided to wait until after his performance was finished.

And for the next hour, that's what she did.

She waited as Karl played. Little was Karl aware, he wasn't just playing. That dream he'd had affected him more than he or Arma knew. For as he played, he poured all his bottled up emotions into his violin. A beautiful melody sprang forth, one he would never match again.

It was a night they'd both remember for a long long time.

**A/N: I really wasn't sure how to end this chapter, so this was what I came up with. Sorry folks, no Karl epicness yet. That comes later! But that said, what did you guys think of this chapter? The flashback, bits with MECH, the ending, all of it. Let me know in the reviews guys so I can improve.**

**On another note, I have an announcement for a rather risky plan. I've decided to start the beginnings of an OCT (Original Character Tournament) on Fanfiction . net. That's right, here. Now, there's still a lot to plan out, but here's the gist. It'll be a four round tournament, with a total of 16 entrée's allowed. ANYONE can enter, and the requirements are simple. They must be an original character created by you, and be associated with a series on this site. You must write a reference sheet detailing all the stats origins and personality of your character and submit it to me. All entries must be sent through either DocX or PM. If you are interested in judging instead, there are four positions available. PM me if you're interested. There will be more details released in the coming days, but let me know what you guys think, okay?**

**In the meantime, I'll be updating Force of Nature next, so bye!**


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